Smoke alarms are desirable and even necessary to ensure the safety of every person in a household. At times, however, smoke alarms can be a nuisance. Often, cooking smoke or cigarette smoke will set off a smoke alarm. Also, water vapor from a shower can set off a smoke alarm.
To address such problems, smoke alarms have been retrofitted with a switch to temporarily deactivate the smoke alarms. These retrofitted smoke alarms require the use of a remote control, a switch, or a pull cord to turn off the smoke alarms. Examples include U.S. Pat. No. 4,313,110, U.S. Pat. No. 5,093,651, U.S. Pat. No. 5,442,336, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,815,066.